The Silent Past and the Invisible Present

Drawing on research in the fields of cognitive and developmental psychology, attachment, trauma, and neuroscience, as well as 20 years in forensic and private practice, Paul Renn deftly illustrates the ways in which this research may be used to inform an integrated empirical/hermeneutic model of clinical practice. He suggests that silent, invisible processes derived from the past maintain non-optimal ways of experiencing and relating in the present, and that a neuroscience understanding of the dynamic nature of memories, and of the way in which the implicit and explicit memory systems operate and interact, is salient to a concomitant understanding of trauma, personality development, and therapeutic action. Specifically, Renn argues that an intersubjective psychodynamic model can use the power of an emotionally meaningful therapeutic relationship to gradually facilitate both relational and neurological changes in patients with trauma histories. Taken as a whole, these themes reflect a paradigmatic shift in psychoanalytic thinking about clinical work and the process of change.

“"It turns out that Paul Renn not only knows the intellectual sweep of the psychoanalytic world... but he is also a wonderful writer and a seasoned, sensitive clinician...Whether writing about the subjects of memory, trauma, concept of mind, attachment, or developmental processes, Renn first presents relevant research findings, then pertinent psychoanalytic theoretical models from many discourses, and, lastly, graceful clinical examples. Patients and friends frequently ask me for "something to read" that will illuminate for them what contemporary psychoanalysis is all about. I usually suggest something from Mitchell or Beebe and Lachmann. Now with Renn''sThe Silent Past and the Invisible Present I have the perfect book to recommend to the sophisticated layperson and professional. It''s an important contribution to psychoanalysis and a knockout!"- Joye Weisel-Barth, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology "InThe Silent Past and the Invisible Present, Paul Renn guides the field of psychoanalysis back to the future. Through his elegant presentation of a contemporary perspective on memory, especially the building blocks inherent in implicit memory, Renn makes the silent past speak, the present visible, and, via his clinical applications, our patients'' futures brighter. Through his respectful presentation of a current perspective on past psychoanalytic theorizing, he even-handedly illuminates old obscurities, offers an integrated vision of present conceptions, and foreshadows a route to our field''s future."- Joseph D. Lichtenberg, co-author of”

"In The Silent Past and the Invisible Present, Paul Renn guides the field of psychoanalysis back to the future. Through his elegant presentation of a contemporary perspective on memory, especially the building blocks inherent in implicit memory, Renn makes the silent past speak, the present visible, and, via his clinical applications, our patients' futures brighter. Through his respectful presentation of a current perspective on past psychoanalytic theorizing, he evenhandedly illuminates old obscurities, offers an integrated vision of present conceptions, and foreshadows a route to our field's future." - Joseph D. Lichtenberg, M.D., co-author, Psychoanalysis and Motivational Systems: A New Look (Routledge, 2010) "Welcome to an exciting new voice in relational psychoanalysis. At once modest and authoritative, Renn integrates attachment theory and research, contemporary neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology into a clear, coherent, and compelling psychoanalytic narrative. With humor and sensitivity, the plight of conduct-disordered males with developmental trauma is poignantly illuminated. Students and experienced practitioners will find themselves reading this compelling volume in one sitting. As they return to their consulting rooms, they will notice that their therapeutic style, and grasp of its scientific underpinnings, will have been irreversibly transformed." - Professor Jeremy Holmes, M.D., University of Exeter, and author, Exploring in Security: Towards an Attachment Informed Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2010) "This book delivers far more than it promises. In the early chapters, Paul Renn explains and masterfully interweaves attachment research, neuroscience findings, traumatic memory systems, and contemporary relational psychoanalytic thinking into an elegant tapestry. But don't stop reading. The later chapters show him as a wise and compassionate clinician putting all this scholarship to work in the criminal justice system. Those who hope and believe that mental health services pertain to everyone should read this book. Once read, The Silent Past and the Invisible Present belongs on your shelf next to Neil Altman's The Analyst in the Inner City." - Donna M. Orange, Ph.D., author, The Suffering Stranger: Hermeneutics for Everyday Clinical Practice (Routledge, 2011)

Paul Renn is a UKCP accredited psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in London and a lecturer on the Kids Company training course. He trained at the Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. He has a background in the National Probation Service in London, developing a particular interest in working with violent men and couples from an attachment theory and research perspective. He has presented papers at international conferences, devised and facilitated workshops on attachment and trauma and violent attachments, and had articles published in professional journals and books in the UK and abroad. He is on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Inquiry.

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